Call me, I will join you: Rahul Gandhi offers to be part of protest as tribal student highlights woes

Pune, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday offered to join tribal students protesting in Pune, after a young woman from the community highlighted issues concerning hostel facilities, education and safety.

"Call me there, I will come and sit with you," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said during his 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' programme here, where he publicly interacted with female students over a range of issues, including access to education, financial independence, public transport safety, violence and cyber harassment.

The woman told Gandhi that tribal students had been observing a hunger strike at Manjari in Pune since the past 10 days over their demands. She said two girls were also participating in the protest and one of them had been hospitalised after her health deteriorated.


The student said the representatives of the tribal community had approached the state government to draw its attention to the demands, but were told that the issue was in the hands of the chief minister.

"If you cannot work for the development of tribal students, then you have no right to sit in that chair," she said, criticising the authorities.

The student demanded that the age limit for staying in government tribal hostels be extended.

She said students were currently facing restrictions on the period for which they could stay in hostels and sought an extension up to 35 years, while maintaining that ideally there should be no such age restriction.

She also raised concerns over the condition of tribal ashram schools, alleging that several institutions lacked basic facilities such as beds and drinking water.

The student criticised the centralised kitchen system in ashram schools, under which food is prepared at one location and transported over long distances, saying this could result in food spoilage and illness.

Referring to the recent incident in Gadchiroli, she said three tribal girl students died after being bitten by a snake while sleeping and three others were hospitalised. She demanded compensation of at least Rs 1 crore for the family of each victim.

Seeking better medical facilities in tribal educational institutions, she asked why a nurse could not be available round-the-clock at ashram schools and other residential educational institutions.

The student also alleged that tribal girls were asked to produce "fitness certificates" after staying away from hostels for more than a month, and claimed that pregnancy tests were conducted as part of the process. She questioned the need for such a practice and urged the administration's intervention.

According to her, tribal hostels in cities, such as Pune and Mumbai, were often located far from educational institutions, forcing students to spend several hours commuting and leaving them with little time to study.

When she talked about the ongoing hunger strike at Manjari, Gandhi said, "Call me there, I will come and sit with you." The Congress leader also indicated that he would join the students and put pressure on the authorities to help resolve their grievances.